Originally posted by MerkThe preceding opinions do not reflect the opinions of the majority of those who watch news channels other than FOX, or read newspapers other than USA Today. I personally think that children being given a grossly substandard education because of their skin color, children murdering each other, homelessness, inadequate health care even for the insured, let alone for the unlucky uninsured ... these are just a few of the problems that many educated people would consider "worse." Yes, terrorism attacked us. People belonging to a certain group attacked us. We were not attacked by the sovereign nation of Iraq, nor by any other sovereign nation in the Middle East or anywhere else. We were attacked by a splinter group that represented no nation. We are not defending our nation. We are proving people like 7ate9 right, every single day that we're over there. WE ARE the weapon of mass destruction, and it causes many of us great shame, as it has from the very beginning.
That's where Europe and most war detractors the world over miss the ball.
We know a lot of them don't want is there. Only a fool would think that's the only reason we're there. And frankly, we don't have any worse problems closer to home.
The simple truth of the matter is, terrorism attacked us. Now we are reshaping the Middle East. That's what a countr ...[text shortened]... when we got attacked. All that takes a back seat to defense when a Nation has a will.
Originally posted by reader1107I dont get fox news so you can't tag me with that one.
The preceding opinions do not reflect the opinions of the majority of those who watch news channels other than FOX, or read newspapers other than USA Today. I personally think that children being given a grossly substandard education because of their skin color, children murdering each other, homelessness, inadequate health care even for the insured, l ...[text shortened]... of mass destruction, and it causes many of us great shame, as it has from the very beginning.
And that would be another problem we have in this country, some people genuinely feel that socio-economics, The Kids, and friggin insurance is more important to this country than defense.
In other words, to them, social programs are more urgent than defense.
Originally posted by Ragnorakanswer to questions 1-6: oil
Question 1:: How many of the 9-11 terrorists were Iraqi or Afghani?
Question 2: You say that Afghanistan was attacked because Al Qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks and were based out of Afghanistan. If Al Qaeda attack again, while the u.s. control Afghanistan, does than mean that whatever country is attacked is well within their rights to attack u.s. "contr ...[text shortened]... How else can you insure national security?
Thanks in advance for your answers,
D
oil is the sole cause of U.S. involvement in the middle east...
that's it...
period...
if we ever get a mainstream alt. fuel source, we will be able to piss on the middle east and we'll leave each other alone...
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Originally posted by Merknm
I dont get fox news so you can't tag me with that one.
And that would be another problem we have in this country, some people genuinely feel that socio-economics, The Kids, and friggin insurance is more important to this country than defense.
In other words, to them, social programs are more urgent than defense.
Originally posted by MerkAsk why you have to defend yourself in the first place.
I dont get fox news so you can't tag me with that one.
And that would be another problem we have in this country, some people genuinely feel that socio-economics, The Kids, and friggin insurance is more important to this country than defense.
In other words, to them, social programs are more urgent than defense.
Originally posted by rubberjaw30Well, ten points for honesty at least.
answer to questions 1-6: oil
oil is the sole cause of U.S. involvement in the middle east...
that's it...
period...
if we ever get a mainstream alt. fuel source, we will be able to piss on the middle east and we'll leave each other alone...
(As for my avatar, it's a simple PHP script that uses random selection to
pick a new image on each request. I named the script with a gif extension
then made sure that the script would execute as PHP using .htaccess for
apache configuration. It's really quite elementary when you think about
it.)
Originally posted by rubberjaw30What we need to do with the North Koreans and the Iranians is go in there and bomb the living crap out of them and I'm not talking about nuking them. Completely destroy ALL of their infrastructure and nuclear facilities. Then make THEM rebuild it. After they rebuild come back in and level everything again. We don't need to send any troops in there. They want to see a bully, give them one. Everytime they build a sand castle, kick it over. Maybe after two or three times of doing this, the people of those countries will realize that having those kinds of leaders is not a smart idea.
why can't our american govt. just make it as simple as this?:
1. get out of Iraq...
there is no progress to be made...
Iraq is a lost cause due to the Islamic religion...
2. redeploy troops to Iran and N. Korea
3. tell those crackpot presidents that we aren't taking their BS with the nuclear weapons deal...
hand em over or we will kill you...
why ...[text shortened]... roblem getting these upstart terrorism based nations to see things our way...
so confused...
While we are at it, go to old Chavez and blow his house up. You are a big tough guy when all your friends are around you but the coward wouldn't know what to do if his mansion (mind you the country is pretty poor) was leveled.
As for Iraq, pull out all troops and let it descend into civil war. After they get done killing each other, we found our 51th state.
Originally posted by slappy115And when they secretely join forces and attack the US? Are you going to
What we need to do with the North Koreans and the Iranians is go in there and bomb the living crap out of them and I'm not talking about nuking them. Completely destroy ALL of their infrastructure and nuclear facilities. Then make THEM rebuild it. After they rebuild come back in and level everything again. We don't need to send any troops in there. Th ...[text shortened]... it descend into civil war. After they get done killing each other, we found our 51th state.
whinge about it like you do 9/11, and look like: "Where the hell did that
come from?"
Just grow up, please. For the sake of all of us.
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Originally posted by Merk...into a design based on a Jackson Pollock original?
Now we are reshaping the Middle East
PS: The last line is like something Kubrick might have written.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6476907.stm
Middle East Fears Broken Iraq
There was a time in 2003, between the removal of Saddam Hussein and the start of the insurgency, when you could stroll through Baghdad down to one of the teahouses on the banks of the Tigris without worrying too much about getting kidnapped or blown up.
For those few months, supporters of the Iraq war generally felt pretty good about the way things had gone.
No weapons of mass destruction had been found, but it was just a matter of time.
Yes, there had been looting and banditry, but it would pass.
It seemed, to the instigators and supporters of the war, that the dream of the American neo-conservatives was coming true.
Iraq was being remade a beacon of democratic values. It would become such a successful friend of the West that all its neighbours would want to copy it.
Of course, it has been clear for some time that the neo-con dreams were delusions. But they should not be forgotten, because they are, after all, a big part of the reason why we all ended up in this mess.
I say "we" because it is going to be very hard for anyone to avoid the consequences of having a broken country and a bloody series of wars at the centre of the world's most strategically important region.
Homeless Iraqi women living in destroyed building in Baghdad
Nearly two million Iraqis have been displaced within their own country
The year 2003 was a watershed in the modern history of the Middle East. The results of the invasion are going to be rumbling around the region for a long time - a generation or more.
Some are already clear. The war has already produced the biggest movement of people in the Middle East since the Palestinian refugee crisis after the establishment of Israel in 1948.
More than a million refugees from Iraq are in Syria, around a million more in Jordan and almost two million have been displaced inside Iraq.
The war between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq terrifies people.
In Saudi Arabia last month a Shia engineer told me how worried his community had been during Ashura, the annual commemoration of the death of their martyr Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed.
"It's simple," he said. "Some of the Sunnis, the extremists, regard us as infidels. We're terribly worried that what's happening in Iraq could happen here."
When you travel around the Middle East and ask people about how the war in Iraq has affected them you get a combination of regret, anger and trepidation.
Last week I visited a senior Saudi security official, a general. I asked him whether the invasion by America, Britain and their friends four years ago had made Iraq into a recruiting sergeant for Islamist extremists.
He said it had, and explained.
"It inspires these people," he said. "Some of them think it is their duty to go and perform jihad in Iraq. They think they are supporting the Muslims in Iraq and actually protecting the Islamic civilisation and culture in Iraq."
He denied, by the way, that Saudi Arabia's tolerance of some religious extremists was also making matters worse.
Saddam Hussein was a never a good neighbour, but after his armies were expelled from Kuwait in 1991 he was contained.
The conservative, mainly elderly Sunni royalty who run the Arab Gulf like predictability. What is happening in Iraq now is not at all predictable, and that makes them nervous.
At the biggest arms fair in the Middle East, which was held in Abu Dhabi last month, the best-selling items were weapons and equipment for border security and counter-insurgency.
And what about the Americans?
Some of them still seem to be believers in the dead dreams of four years ago.
On the flight deck of the enormous US aircraft carrier the USS Eisenhower in the Gulf this week, warplanes were being shot out of the steam catapults on the flight deck with engines that roared and screamed so loudly you felt it in your sinuses, teeth and jawbone.
"Listen to it," one of the officers told me when the warplanes were launched and streaking up the Gulf to Iraq.
"It is the sound of freedom."
Originally posted by AmauroteI'm sure that was a great story, but what was the point of it? Seems like beeb drivel as usual to me. A little neo-con bashing, a little Iraq is a mess, and a little pot shot at the U.S. Military. (a potshot if your from the left, the rest of us know what he heard on the flight deck was the truth)
...into a design based on a Jackson Pollock original?
PS: The last line is like something Kubrick might have written.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6476907.stm
[b]Middle East Fears Broken Iraq
There was a time in 2003, between the removal of Saddam Hussein and the start of the insurgency, when you could stroll throug ...[text shortened]... launched and streaking up the Gulf to Iraq.
"It is the sound of freedom."[/b]
All in all I would say its beeb formula reporting at its typically bad and has no purpose in this thread.
Originally posted by MerkIf you don't understand the irony in that, never ever pick up a novel by Joseph Conrad or Graham Greene.
I'm sure that was a great story, but what was the point of it? Seems like beeb drivel as usual to me. A little neo-con bashing, a little Iraq is a mess, and a little pot shot at the U.S. Military.